Good NCAA Scholarship article

"Former Tulane head coach Rick Jones identified three keys he looked for while recruiting: That an athlete could play, pass and pay—with the last being almost as important as the first.

“In our sport, a young man doesn’t necessarily always go where he wants to go,” Jones said. “He goes to where he can afford to go.”"

This is the bottom line. Even colleges that can meet my family's financial need at 100% are still going to be out of reach for my kids unless they get some awesome merit aid or outside scholarships. That's why grades and test scores are so important. I just don't see the upside of them going into huge debt to pay for school. It's an unfortunate situation for kids aspiring to play college baseball.

Great Article!  Thanks for posting...

This should be required reading for anyone whose son wants to play ball in college.

Why does it seem you need a PhD to figure it all out? 

Should be mandatory reading for families starting the journey.  I get a lot of questions from people as they know we have been through it.  I think I'm going to just start referring people to the story, it does a better job than I can.

I wonder how many people out there think that a Baseball Athletic Scholarship means a free-ride...what I take away from this article is that 25% Scholarships are the norm, if you get offered one at all.  Can anyone say what the 25% actually covers though?  Or post a thread link with that information, is it just tuition or living expenses/books/housing too?

My experience was it was usually a percentage of the cost to attend.  However, it is a point worth clarifying with every coach you deal with.  Never make assumptions.

First soapbox comment- the ex Baylor coach Steve Smith has no argument.  Baylor and TCU are virtual clones in costs, academic standards, geography and almost everything other factor you can imagine. TCU faces the same issues and has grown into a baseball powerhouse, while jumping conferences and Baylor continued to fall. That's why you're out of a job, so go deal with that and sit in the barn for a while. There are plenty of other expensive private schools that have great baseball programs as well, where kids are paying significantly more than they would if they went to a state school.  

Sorry, my real point is, I think that the article was also trying to draw a key on the changing landscape in overall funding for colleges and by proxy, how that can by-pass the 11.7 rule giving certain schools an unfair advantage going forward.  Great example LSU.  If you are a reasonably intelligent high school graduate in Louisiana, you are awarded free tuition by the state to any state school. If you are bright, they actually pay you a decent stipend.  They need an increase in college bound students, this is one way to address that problem.  You can see, how if LSU picks up the top 4 players in the state for free, suddenly, their 11.7 scholarships is worth much more than 11.7. 

JUCO ball allows for what, 25 scholarships? I have never really done the research, anyone have any insight as to why you can field an entire JUCO team on full rides, NCAA basketball can field an entire team and a redshirt, and football can field a full 60 man roster with plenty of redshirts/practice players?

I was oblivious to most of this when I went through the process (before the days of google) and learned some things as I went along or after the fact. I remember there was an out of state D2 I liked due to the location that were in my top 5. When the coach told me what they were going to offer I was insulted. Had no idea why and never learned because I was a punk teenager and never called back. Of course got taken care of in JUCO and when it came time to talk to a few D1's, I only then learned how limited these programs are and what would be considered fair offers given my talent level and likely role with the team.

JUCO's have their own separate governing body (NJCAA) and are not part of the NCAA so they make up their own rules.  That's how they get away with higher scholarship numbers, pumping out kids who play baseball only and don't go to class or make grades.  As one local JUCO coach in my area said to a small group of parents, he is a baseball factory.  He clearly had no interest in seeing that the kids were educated, class was just an interference with his practice schedule.  It told me right away, it was a place that I never wanted my son to be. Luckily not all JUCO's are that way.  As far as the other numbers, the argument has always been that baseball is not a revenue sport.  It takes more money to run to run the program than it produces, so less scholarships to go around. 

To add to Igotnothing's post - the NJCAA allows scholarships for D1 and D2 Juco's, but not D3 JuCo's.  And only if that does not violate state law.  My son played baseball at a D2 JuCo in VA and while many players signed commitments, none had scholarships as the state does not allow JuCo's to offer true scholarships.  For out of state students they could off assistance to offset the higher tuition out-of-state students are charged, but in-state didn't get any athletic scholarships.

My son was fortunate that he did receive a state grant that covered 95% of his tuition.  We still had to pay for books and living arrangements.

Igotnothing, the non-revenue generating thing makes sense and was a reason that crossed my mind. But still, Im sure most if not all women's teams operate in the red, they get more basketball scholarships than the men's teams. They get 14 for soccer (covers your starters and the three subs), volleyball gets 12 (two full rotations). I was thinking maybe that is due to some Title IV stuff, to make things fair, but women's softball is crutched like baseball.

With men's soccer, all but one starter can be covered. I'm not a hockey fan, but I am assuming 18 full scholarships is more than enough to cover multiple line changes (or whatever they are called). Im guessing everywhere those sports are in the red too. And I remember reading an article that most men's basketball teams operate in the red and there are only 20 (I may be off a few) or so who turn a profit.

I don't know, is it because baseball and softball players more commonly come from families who can afford to help out a little more, rather than basketball and football where demographics may be different and it may be more common that more of your players are going to come from homes that make less?

It's just crazy to me. I had three JUCO teammates who didnt pay a dime their first two years. They chose to play D2 at a private college, obviously got very little help, and the cost of tuition there was so high they have to still be 60-70k in student loan debt for two years. Their decisions, of course.

Regarding the comment by Igotnothing about the JUCO coach who had no interest in seeing that his kids were educated, it seems to me that the job of a JUCO coach is to make sure their athletes are educated in class and are educated about the academic requirements they will have to satisfy to move on from the JUCO to a four-year college (regardless of the sport).

We recently attended an Eligibility Seminar put on by the NJCAA to make sure we are up to date and current on the JUCO rules.  It was interesting to me that there were over 200 JUCO coaches and athletic administrators present, but not one mention was made about the NCAA requirements for JUCO athletes to be eligible when they transfer.  I realize that the Seminar was put on by the NJCAA, and the focus was on the rules for that organization, but I was surprised that there was no mention of the changing transfer academic requirements.  For example, the Division II 2-4 transfer rules will be changing for 2-4 transfers enrolling at a Division II in the Fall of 2016.

As a result, we'll make greater efforts to let the JUCO athletes and parents know about our services, such as our Guide to Transfers, our phone and e-mail consultations, and our transcript reviews. 

I found this comment from a former Vanderbilt coach interesting, in light of a related discussion in another recent topic (which I can't recall at the moment):

"Former Commodores assistant coach Derek Johnson, now the Chicago Cubs’ minor league pitching coordinator, said he looked for an ACT score in the 22-23 range when evaluating players. That’s far lower than the standards for a non-athlete Vanderbilt student..."

The middle 50% ACT range for incoming freshmen at Vanderbilt is 32-34...they give a huge advantage to ball players they want.